princessvegas: (131. you're on the bed)
Julie Lawry ([personal profile] princessvegas) wrote in [community profile] abraxaslogs2022-03-04 12:03 pm

[ march / open ] you left me, you left me no choice but to stay here forever

Who: Julie + others + open
When: March
What: this month is A Lot (this post is a catchall)
Where: Cadens + the Horizon

[ [plurk.com profile] bitchcraft or bitchcraft#2753 for a starter ]
cointosser: ([103 - S2])

[personal profile] cointosser 2022-03-10 05:43 am (UTC)(link)
[Like his own domain had become, the feeling of the air is nearly choking. The sort of environment that does not so much demand that one leave, but rather firmly, perhaps a broom for beating in hand, saying, you probably wish not to be here.

Of course, it's still a club. There's still dancing, and music, and drinks. He pauses by the bar, by the bartender he'd met once again during Nadine's party and attempted to kiss, just for fun -- just to see what it felt like to kiss someone else's dream.

He lingers, thinking that perhaps he will need a drink. After a moment, he decides against it. Unlike with Nadine, he understands what he's stepping into here. Which, considering he can look up and see trailing animals of fire, might be a bit safer.

Jaskier is in plainclothes, only a chemise with no doublet. Not even a hat. His boots nearly take out the unicorn, but it gives him a fierce throw of its head that he finds absolutely precious.]
Now I know you're working hard to protect her, little one, but I won't be bullied by my own gift. Run along.

[To be honest, he's still a bit surprised to find the door opens. Not exactly happily so, with a creak and the annoyed whinnies of the unicorn behind him, out into a large room with a lovely woman in the center of it who looks about a step past catatonic.

He takes a step towards her, lowering his hand to her shoulder. In case she didn't notice his entrance.]
The fish were lovely. In particular, I mean. I can't imagine the fluidity of the movements is easy.

[He takes a seat beside her. Jaskier does not consider himself particularly good at this, but he can't think of... leaving. Not yet. Not unless Julie really, truly needs to be alone.]
cointosser: ([076] - S2)

[personal profile] cointosser 2022-03-14 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
[He's really going to have to ask what the strange, two-legged lizard thing is. Eventually.

It isn't important now. Neither are the other creatures which seem very upset with him (join in line.) He's quite worried that Julie appears to be rather... unresponsive, and though it tightens like a fist around his heart, he sits beside her instead of running off.

He was mistaken. Knowing what he was walking into did not help much so far.

Their shoulders brush, and he watches her, putting a hand on her arm. Rests it there.]
I'm sure you realize I've heard what happened. You've been in here for quite a while, haven't you? Not that I blame you.

[A place to be alone, but alternatively, a place to escape to. To control.] Not that I make a habit of coming into people's personal places and commenting on their dress -- all right, is isn't exactly the first time, but that's neither here nor there -- wouldn't you rather be in something a bit more comfortable? What do you call them? Ah... pajamas?

[He's still learning on modern conveniences. And lingerie. It simply migrated to the concept of comfort, which he agrees is much better than smallclothes.

Luckily, it doesn't matter if she speaks or not. She needn't if she can't, or doesn't want to. He can fill the silence alone.]
cointosser: ([102 - S2])

[personal profile] cointosser 2022-03-17 06:09 am (UTC)(link)
[He doesn't expect much response, but that he gets nothing -- almost literally nothing -- is beginning to scare him a little. He doesn't move his hand from her, though her gaze is unnerving. If he had the concept of zombie, then surely that is how he'd describe her.

Gods. He's not sure what to do. It makes more sense to him that she should cry, or scream, or rage. Destroy things. Create them only to smother them. Or drink. Drink, or smoke, until nothing matters anymore.

The latter has never helped.

What had he done for the elves? He was hardly with them long enough beyond holding their hands, or hiding their eyes from a few Nilfgaardian soldiers kicking a corpse into the ground. So he takes her hand and watches her, until the tears finally make their way out.

A sign she has not completely blacked out.]


I know. [He pulls an embroidered, patterned handkerchief from his pocket, ready to dab her cheeks.] I don't know what I can tell you. But I want you to know I'm here, all the same.
cointosser: ([112 - S2])

[personal profile] cointosser 2022-03-20 03:35 am (UTC)(link)
[There they are. It's not quite the animated response he would like, but he asks nothing of her now. He only wipes her tears away once they begin their journey down her cheeks.

He looks down. It's barely anything, but it's. Enough. Honestly, it's enough, and he gives her a small smile. She needn't be here, he supposes, as long as she is somewhere.]


Like I said, I'm not going anywhere. Take all the time you need, my dear.

[And then he begins to hum. If speaking is not helping -- and perhaps it's too much to deal with at all -- he can provide this so easily. Filling the quiet with song, even if the club below has plenty of thumping music of its own. This is slower, steady, quiet.]
cointosser: ([121 - S2])

[personal profile] cointosser 2022-03-22 05:44 am (UTC)(link)
[There. That is more a reaction than anything else has gotten, so he doesn't even pause as she moves closer. Jaskier holds Julie's weight easily, an arm coming loosely around her back so his palm can rest across her back.

Singing is easy, thoughtless. And in the Horizon, time really has no meaning. He can sit in the most awkward position, holding her, until there is even the smallest bit of light in her eyes.

At least the creatures have ceased their fussing. It's only the two of them and the sound of his voice, carrying gently through her room. Only between one song and another, when humming turns to words -- a silly little ditty he wrote about a crow family stealing from Cadens's market -- does he offer a small:]
Come back when you can.
cointosser: ([076] - S2)

[personal profile] cointosser 2022-03-24 05:53 am (UTC)(link)
[Of course, words are far better than shiny eyes.

He starts a little, half pulling back from her with a smile. Then he tugs her in for a squeeze of a hug, the last few notes of his song fading to nothing but an echo.

Fuck. He was almost afraid -- some grief was too much, wasn't it?]


What are you on about? This shirt isn't even real. [He kisses her cheek, though it's long gone dry again. He wasn't sure if it'd been a good thing when she'd stopped crying.] I never thought you would be worried for the state of my clothing.
cointosser: ([103 - S2])

[personal profile] cointosser 2022-03-26 06:00 am (UTC)(link)
[He shifts so he can be a bit more comfortable, hopefully, to lean against, his arm laying over her as if it were a blanket. He's not against the idea, really, as someone who spends more time in the Horizon than most, too. Not near as much as Julie, but he understands the draw, the pull.

For him, it's the one place where he has control. Where, no matter what, nothing can hurt him.

He summons a soft fleece blanket to lay over her, and around his shoulders. Big enough that it pools around them like a bedsheet. It's not cold, exactly, but there's a comfort in something so simple as being warm.]


I'm hardly upset over it. And, permit me the cliché, but I believe it was better you let it out.
cointosser: ([088 - S2])

[personal profile] cointosser 2022-03-27 11:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[He chortles a response, mostly a laugh in his throat. Somehow it reminds him of something Geralt might say, in another life, and imagining it in that deep, gravel tone is rather comical.]

It may not surprise you, but I have cried on occasion, and have neither broken a bone nor, in fact, am I a child.

[Despite everyone's insults otherwise, thank you.] It's for release. If you walk around repressing everything, why... why, you turn into Geralt, and believe me, it makes for very difficult company sometimes. [Even if she doesn't feel better. Of course it doesn't change anything, but... well. That's biology. It forces one to do things that are, at times, not helpful.]
cointosser: ([070])

[personal profile] cointosser 2022-03-28 09:12 am (UTC)(link)
More fun ones, you mean. Or, at least, enjoyable. In the moment.

[And so they have traveled opposite paths, as Jaskier dived into coping with drink, and equally drunk company; whatever handsome faces couldn't keep their eyes on him after another performance of Burn, Butcher, Burn as they thirst for the reasons he hated the White Wolf as much as they thirst for a fuck.

So then the process of unlearning begins. Because, honestly, while it isn't better, it's so much easier. Wine was his drug of choice in lieu of anything else, and as long as his head was swirling and his mouth was parched, memories were fleeting things and thoughts nearly nonexistent ones.

He's far from judgement. It's more concern. Funny, how it easy it is to allow oneself to fall into absolutely nothing, and how impossible it is to watch it happen to others.]


You're right. [Now it's his turn to sigh.] Nothing changes that what's done. We're all simply trying to survive the aftershocks. There's no reward nor beauty in it. Yet we do it anyway.

[He doubts the words help, either. Or the company. Like she said, it changes nothing. It won't bring him back. Estinien comes to his mind again, so tall and sure and yet unsure, in the end. No. Nothing will bring him back.

He adjusts the blanket. Somehow, the tips of his fingers feel cold.]
Very badass of us indeed. As Sam would say.
cointosser: ([109 - S2])

[personal profile] cointosser 2022-03-28 11:16 pm (UTC)(link)
All right, you go a little harder than I do at times, I admit.

[Said with utmost affection. He still thinks very fondly of the herbs from the Halloween party; he hasn't asked for their recreation quite yet if only because they felt so perfectly suited for that moment. Besides, all his moments after with Nadine have not needed anything to... help.

With the quiet again, he fiddles with his fingers, tapping out a rhythm on his leg.

He's glad she doesn't ask it. But why is too difficult a concept to approach right now.]


Right. Your sphere is... [Well, obviously not inhabitable anymore. That's what had scared Nadine so much, had driven her -- and Julie, he thinks -- to this. They did not simply go home, like Estinien may have. There was nothing to go to. Only another death.

He swallows, tipping his head back.]
I wish I had an answer. All of my studies of the greats -- of art, of literature, of philosophy -- we all search for an answer to it. I don't have one, either. Personally, I like to think we're all masochists. Surviving through the suffering for our next good fuck, or the next good drink, or the next good friend. I mean, you can't imagine I've been famous for this long and not become an absolute hedonist.

[Deflection with dry humor, indeed.]
Edited 2022-03-28 23:16 (UTC)
cointosser: ([109 - S2])

[personal profile] cointosser 2022-03-29 06:20 am (UTC)(link)
[One could already predict she wouldn't laugh. He gives a small sigh. It's not for lack of trying; then again, he knows why she wouldn't want to. He had no interest in it, either. Only really laughed at himself. Not in a fun way.

Jaskier's fingers move in between hers, clasping her hand across the blanket.

The bard tips his head, giving her a squeeze. He conjures a few pillows behind them for a bit more comfort, shifting his legs.]


Absolutely. I'd be delighted to hear.
cointosser: ([101- S2])

[personal profile] cointosser 2022-04-02 06:51 am (UTC)(link)
[The longer she goes on, like any good story, the more questions he has, the little details he wants to fill out to sate his curiousity. Things like what on earth an internet is, how much could billions encompass, how could that many people even be alive, let alone die in months? His heart turns colder the more words fill the space around them, and in the end, he's practically clinging back to her. So quietly she goes past details like her parents' death, wandering alone in a dead world.

Somehow, he's never really put it together. (He's involved enough in his own stories.) That it is Nadine's magic man that was this king who brought them together. That the portrait Julie showed him, the Vegas, was where they all ended up.

Called like children following a piper. Or the call of a demon, if one could truly be so powerful. Then again, did not the Deathless Mother call people like Yennefer to her side? Did she not find, exactly, what she needed to to have them succumb?

Jaskier doesn't voice the thoughts. He has no idea what to make of this Flagg character other than the mere mention of what he's done unnerves him.

It's enough for him to know that Nadine and Julie have been through far too much shit, and Destiny seems determined to keep piling it on them.]
That certainly does put things in perspective. How hard it would be to trust that those who say they'll stay, in fact, will.

[What does one say? They'll stay, for sure, this time. None of them know that. All he can do is empathize.] I know that fear. When you're so sure you're alone, and the dark has found you in the end.

[And yet Destiny played him then, too, entering Yennefer at the last moment. He can't say it will ever happen again.]
cointosser: ([103 - S2])

[personal profile] cointosser 2022-04-12 05:25 am (UTC)(link)
[If she so asked Jaskier months ago, he thinks he would have very different answers. That there is always a way to beat it back. That there must be. Even if he knows very well that's not true. When he has even written songs about men who could not find their victory against the dark.

He shakes his head.

The dark always has its ways to get stronger. There is always so much of it. In war, in blood spilled, in greed and anger and sorrow.

He simply squeezes her.]
In my case, be a fool and hope for the best.

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